Kitchen ceiling repair and down lights

[NickB_99]

Hi all,

I'm in the process of replacing my kitchen and need to sort out the ceiling.
The ceiling is plasterboard with an artex covering. It has 5 old fashioned down lights, positioned like the 5 on a dice.

Covering the artex I will be fine with, I'm really after some advice with repairing the down lighter holes. The old fashioned ones are much larger diameter than a modern equivalent, so can't just do a direct swap.
If I keep down lights, I'd prefer to go for 6, so the position of the outer ones will be the same place most likely, and is giving the biggest problem.

One possibility - I could cut disks of p/board to fill the holes and feed strips of p/board stuck behind to hold them in place. Then reskim ceiling.
Not sure if this will give a problem with double thickness board in the same areas, when fitting the new down lights?

Hope the desscription makes sense; I'm thinking this must be quite a common problem, so possibly better solutions out there.
Thanks!

 

[roy c]

You have probably answered your own question newbee get a strip of plasterboard 10mm smaller than the diameter of your hole.and allow 3inches longer than the hole, make a small hole in the middle of the board and thread a piece of string thru it and tie a knot on the back so it doesn't pull thru the hole. then just clean the dust/ debris away from inside of the hole and put some p/b adhesive or sticks like s@@@ on the 2 edges of your strip of plaster board and slide it so it rests over the hole and pull the string to get it to fit tight.You could put a three inch nail thru the centre instead of string if you wanted.When it has set in place cut the string or push your nail up fill your hole with a of circle of plasterboard just a bit smaller than the hole and stick that in position on the other piece you could put a couple of screws thru it to pull it tight. When this has stuck fast you can fill around it with easifill also it might be worth cutting an area around the new "infills" and putting some scrim tape under the easifill. Hope this helps mucka
Or if you are skimming the ceiling you could cut out squares of plaster board where th holes are and 8"x8" and screw some 2"x1" batten around the edges of the holes and then screw some new plaster board into the gaps and fill and tape it and skim over it.But make a note of where the battens are positioned soyou dont hit them when you cut your holes out for your new lights ,or cut the holes out before you skim....

 

[1john]

You can get fittings that fill that large hole but take the 2" torch GU10 lamps.

 

[NickB_99]

well, following this post, I fixed the downlight holes and re-skimmed last weekend.

To plaster the ceiling, I covered the artex with a thin coat of bonding, followed by two coats of multi finish.

I don't think it was particularly big at 4m20 x 2m50, but I really really struggled, and there are a lot of imperfections on the end result.
I should be able to minimise a lot of these with easi-fill, but I was looking for some pointers, so can improve for future!

I think doing the bonding as well took a lot out of my arm/shoulder and this didn't help the skimming to follow.
My first mix of multi was a bit stiff, so was tough to lay on and smooth out - especially towards the end of the mix.
For the later mixes, I then kept them as runny as I thought I could work with, and I found it easier to lay on, but could only load the trowel with much less and much more prone to splashing

At times I even struggled to get the trowel above my head and apply any pressure onto the ceiling!
I used my smaller 11" trowel to lay on, and flattened/polished with my larger 14" one. Last time I had tried using the bigger for both, but it was even tougher.

It's only been my second ceiling - always got away with walls only up til now! But I wondered if there are any tips you could offer when tackling ceilings?

 

[keyplayer]

On a similar theme I noticed these in my local shed the other day. http://www.british-gypsum.com/produ..._accessories/gyproc_plasterboard_patches.aspx

A bit pricey I thought, but they look like they should work alright, although I didn't get any.

 

[1john]

When I did my lounge ceiling with the same method as you I used blue grit first and had ages and ages to play with the plaster, ceiling was about 3.5 x 3.5, maybe a bit larger, i had a mate help to load my hawk for me and clean up etc.

 

[NickB_99]

When I did my lounge ceiling with the same method as you I used blue grit first and had ages and ages to play with the plaster, ceiling was about 3.5 x 3.5, maybe a bit larger, i had a mate help to load my hawk for me and clean up etc.

Really wish I had free time with it, was non-stop start to finish.
After laying 2nd coat of multi, i did some flattening and ran wet brush round the edges. By then, ceiling had started to firm up. First bit wasn't too bad, but with using hop ups etc, was slow to polish and by the time I got half way over, was really starting to firm and i had little strength left to trowel it firmly!

Maybe should have enlisted a mate - would have helped a bit!

I guess i was wondering what the experienced ceiling plasterers use to help themselves?
Boards across hop ups or even Stilts, to get about quicker?
Do you still use a standard trowel for polishing up?
Seem to remember stevethespreader posted a while ago about something for polishing ceilings that made life easier.

Any ceiling tips well received!

 

[1john]

I think the blue grit really bought me the time and the bonding too, I worked off a hop up too and only use a 14" tyzack trowel to lay on and polish. When I did a really big ceiling that was quite high I used tressles and scaffold boards so i could perhaps 6" depth across the whole width of the room. Think that ceiling was about 5x4 but i may be remembering it bigger than it was it killed me though!! after dinner on a friday too and having over an hour of travelling down the m4 to get home!!

 

[NickB_99]

I think the blue grit really bought me the time and the bonding too, I worked off a hop up too and only use a 14" tyzack trowel to lay on and polish. When I did a really big ceiling that was quite high I used tressles and scaffold boards so i could perhaps 6" depth across the whole width of the room. Think that ceiling was about 5x4 but i may be remembering it bigger than it was it killed me though!! after dinner on a friday too and having over an hour of travelling down the m4 to get home!!

That's useful, thanks.

Fortunately i had nothing more to do that day, wouldn't have fancied driving anywhere! Missus made me dinner and i put my feet up

 

[Skimmers]

i was told then best working hight for skimming any ceiling is to flare out your fingers the distance from your thumb to the tip of your little finger is best distance from your head to the lid...
I like knauf betokontakt best drys in 2 hours and covers better too